School Board approves contracts and salary schedules for teachers and ESPs

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At a September 30 special meeting, the School Board of Alachua County unanimously approved new salary schedules and collective bargaining agreements, effective July 1, 2026.

Member Sarah Rockwell made a motion to approve the collective bargaining agreement amendments and salary schedules for the current school year, and Member Tina Certain seconded the motion.

Salary schedule

Educational Support Professionals (ESPs) already received a step increase, and they will get an additional raise of 3%.

Instructional personnel will get raises that depend on their status (Performance Pay Scale or Grandfathered Scale) and their 2025-26 overall evaluations, with teachers who are eligible for the Teacher Salary Increase Allocation (TSIA) and rated Effective or Highly Effective receiving a $3,000 bonus; other teachers who are rated Effective or Highly Effective will receive a step increase and a 3% raise; and teachers with evaluations of Needs Improvement or Unsatisfactory will not receive a raise.

Instructional contract

Changes to the instructional contract include:

• Planning time during the student day will be in blocks of at least 30 minutes, and collaborative planning time cannot replace this planning time;
• Additional situations in which the transfer of sick time is authorized;
• A deadline of May 5 for notifying a teacher who will not be recommended for reappointment;
• A stipulation that a teacher who is on track to receive an Effective or Highly Effective evaluation may be rehired if their contract is not renewed;
• A stipulation that no teacher will be discouraged from writing referrals or otherwise documenting discipline concerns.

ESP contract

The ESP contract updates the language and includes the following changes:

• Bus drivers must be provided with a bus with working air conditioning for out-of-county field trips, if one is available;
• Bus drivers will receive a professional uniform dress allowance of $100;
• When school-based clerical personnel substitute for the school nurse for more than 2 hours in a day, they will receive a $40 supplement;
• When an ESP substitutes for an absent teacher, the ESP will receive a $40 per day supplement;
• Additional situations in which the transfer of sick time is authorized.

Board comments

Rockwell thanked the union leadership and the district bargaining team for their work. Chair Thomas Vu said he appreciated the provisions that made sure the TSIA-eligible teachers get the $3,000 bonus, and he thanked voters for approving the One Mill “because we’re seeing here where it just provides the ability to offer so many things to our students we couldn’t offer before and… be able to fairly compensate our teachers.”

Vu thanked the district bargaining team for agreeing to make it “really explicit that collaborative planning does not count toward teacher planning time and that teacher planning time is still protected… It’s the same thing, too, about… discipline… I’ve heard stories from schools where you’re either discouraged from writing up a student or there’s, like, some unofficial disciplinary log that’s not being logged officially, you know, which is avoiding reporting, which clouds statistics that [are presented to] the Board.”

Vu also thanked the bargaining teams for “agreeing to just more flexibility when it comes to transferring sick leave… Now we’re getting to a point where the way the system is supposed to function is functioning — and if anything, we’re trying to provide more flexibility.”

Vu appreciated the increased pay for an ESP who substitutes for a nurse or a teacher: “[It] was $25, and now it’s $40. So again, that’s progress.” He also appreciated a provision to provide “clearly documented schedules” for employees, “about when they report, what time their workday ends, because that was always nebulous… In my experience, some employees got different work hours than others, just depending on their relationship with their supervisor, etc.”

Vu concluded, “The raise is essentially a 4% raise for all of our employees, and so just thank you for the really hard work from everybody involved. And again, thank you to the union for fighting so hard for our teachers.”

Superintendent Kamela Patton said people around the state are surprised when she tells them that Alachua County teachers are getting a 4% raise: “We said it’s been a priority. It’s two years in a row that we’ve been able to do that.” She thanked the Board because “ultimately, in the end, budgets come down to what the Board approves.”

The motion passed 5-0.